MUSE Gold

2022

Home.Made. Podcast

Entrant Company

Rocket Central

Category

Audio - Podcast

Client's Name

Rocket Central

Country / Region

United States

Home is what Rocket Mortgage as a brand helps people to achieve – whether that means buying or refinancing. But home is more than just four walls: it's what connects us all. As a brand, we wanted to tap into that connection and build trust by showing consumers that we care about their personal stories of home.



This led to Home. Made., a 10-part social documentary podcast that explores the meaning of home and what it can teach us about ourselves and each other. By introducing the brand in ways that inspire trust, the primary goal of Home. Made. was to challenge what it means to be a mortgage lender and elevate our level of meaningfulness in the eyes of our clients.



While the concept of home may connect us all, it still looks different to everyone, so it was important that we told a wide variety of stories about Americans from all walks of life. This meant specifically seeking out individuals from underrepresented groups and sharing their stories about what home means to them.



From the outset, we knew that the goal of a podcast series was not to encourage last-touch conversion but to help build the brand in ways that traditional advertising couldn’t. We purposefully chose not to include hard calls to action. Instead, meaningfulness was built through the emotional impact of the content.



The series has had more than 4 million impressions and maintained an average audience retention rate of over 85% across 120k downloads, meaning that on average listeners have listened to 85% of each episode, the gold standard for Apple.



As one Apple review states: “Absolutely excellent. I had no real idea what I was expecting from a Rocket Companies podcast. I got a wonderful narrative filled with pivot points that connected – and stuck with me – for the greater part of the week.”

Credits

Jess Koryba
Bridget Hillyer
Molly Grace
Clay Closson
Sidney Richardson
Robbie Bailey
Michael D'Agostini
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